Backyard chicken farming gains popularity

Backyard chicken farming has joined vegetable gardening as one of the hottest trends among do-it-yourself locavores.

Denise Trowbridge, For The Columbus Dispatch

Backyard chicken farming has joined vegetable gardening as one of the hottest trends among do-it-yourself locavores.

“Every day I’m surprised by how many people are doing it, and every day someone new comes into the shop asking about keeping chickens," said Shawn Fiegelist, owner of City Folk’s Farm Shop on N. High Street. “There are already a lot of people keeping backyard chickens, and there are going to be a lot more of them."

Maryanne Kohl has kept 14 hens and a couple of roosters for the past two years in her backyard in southeastern Columbus near Canal Winchester. They live in a coop next to the garage and have a chicken run — a protected outdoor area — covered with Christmas lights to keep out hawks.

“I love having our own eggs and connecting with where our food comes from,” she said. “And the grandkids love them.”

David Blankenship has had chickens for more than 28 years — first as a child in 4-H. Now, he has two hens in his 40-by-120-foot backyard in the Vasser Village area on Columbus’ South Side. "Backyard birds are great,” he said. “But there are always two sides to every story.”

Folks should take a class and become educated about the needs of chickens before getting them, he said. “They’re a responsibility, and you need to take care of them,” he said. “Even if it’s 10 below zero, you have to go outside to take care of them and feed them every day. You have to keep their area clean and have a manure management plan because chickens poop a lot.”

They also need a safe coop and space to roam, where they’re protected from predators such as hawks, foxes, raccoons, even cats and dogs. Once all that is in line, “You get the joy of the fresh eggs and the chickens,” Blankenship said.

Central Ohioans also have to contend with city codes and ordinances. Backyard chickens are legal in Columbus and Bexley, as long as certain requirements for their housing and care are met. There is a movement to allow chickens in unincorporated parts of Franklin County, and Upper Arlington resident Janis Wunderlich plans to appeal to city leaders to allow chickens there. Delaware, Grandview Heights, Reynoldsburg, Westerville and Worthington have all considered allowing chickens but declined.

“If there aren’t a lot of people interested in chickens, they might not be getting any pressure to change any laws,” Fiegelist said. “People have misconceptions about chickens. They think they carry disease (and) are dirty, loud and smelly, but that isn’t the case.”

Hens — which most backyard-chicken enthusiasts have — are “generally quiet,” Blankenship said.

Smell usually isn’t an issue, either. “Our coop does not smell of anything other than the fresh pine shavings that we use as bedding,” said Rachel Tayse Baillieul, who kept chickens for more than two years in her backyard in the Clintonville neighborhood. “Most chicken keepers I know in Columbus are actually more attentive to their chickens than pet owners” are to their pets.

Supporters say the pros far outweigh the cons. Chickens provide not only an affordable, healthy protein source but also valuable life lessons. “Keeping chickens gives my 7-year-old daughter an important connection to her food,” Baillieul said. “By raising chicks, she is able to observe life cycles. She learns valuable skills like responsibility and compassion. “Plus, they give her an excuse to be outside exercising as she collects them from free-ranging.”